Thinking, Beet-breads and Sleep Training

I've got a lot to think about these days. I suppose most of that is my fault and my inability to just work on one task at a time. I always feel this need to pile on the work, find myself involved in more than I really need to be at one time. None of these things I need to think about have time limits so why do I feel this urge to combine so many issues at once?

I went to a farmer's market yesterday afternoon with Punk Boy and a friend of mine. Out in St. Norbert, during the summer, they have fresh wares from sale on Wednesday and Saturday (Wednesday is a cut back version of the Saturday extravaganza). Lovely fresh, local produce. I'm excited. Got some small new potatoes, zucchini, onions, garlic, other vegetables and some awesome kettle cooked pop corn. My friend picked up some beets, so I traded her some of our dill weed in exchange for the tops of her beets. Strange, I know but there is a great family recipe I have that requires beet-leaves and if you don't like the beets then you tend to be shit outta luck for making them. It's a Ukrainian dish called beet-breads. It don't if the dish has a Ukrainian name (probably does, but for as long as I remember, we just called them beet-breads), I will have to ask my mother tomorrow when I go visit. The recipe is very simple:

• Take the beet leaves, cut off the long stems and wash. Lay flat to dry (on paper towel or a clean dish towel)
• While these are drying, start to make some bread dough. This is way easier if you have a bread machine to make the dough for you. A normal, light dough is best but any dough can work
• Once the dough is ready, pinch off a small amount and roll it into a small tube-shape (usually about the thickness of two thumbs and a little bit longer). Take your beet-leave and wrap it around this tube of dough. Place it on a cooking sheet, stem part of the beet leave down. Continuing doing this until all the beet leaves/dough is used up.
• Brush or drizzle the little doughs with some oil to keep them moist during baking.
• Bake until the bread is golden brown. The beet leaves on the outside will become a tad crispy - that's alright.
• Remove the pan from the oven and put the beet-breads on a cooling rack. Let cool completely. Store in the freezer in freezer bags or prepare them for dinner as follows:
• Heat up some butter in a deep, big frying pan. Dice an onion up and fry until translucent. Add some heavy cream and fresh dill weed. Bring to boil and then let simmer. Cut the beet-breads in half and place in the simmering cream mixture. Mix well to coat all the beet-breads (there should be enough cream to cover the beet-leaves well). Cook until the beet-breads are warm and then server.

It's damn tasty. Next time I make them, I will take a few pictures.

This post is disjointed. I am re-sleep training the Sea Monkey. He's going to be eight months on the 25th and I think it's time to cut down from three naps a day to two. He seems to awake to need the full three naps so today I am starting a new schedule for him. He used to nap at 9 ish, 1ish and 4ish. Now, I am going to have him nap at 11ish and 4ish. It's hard. He is a very scheduled baby and when the schedule needs to change, he resists at first but will get on board. So this post has been constantly interrupted by me going to check on him and try to get him to nap. It's now 11:30 and he is finally sleeping.

Back to thinking... I've been thinking about eating healthier, making more things from scratch. It's very easy to get stuck in the simple way to cook and I need to take the time to do the things from scratch. I enjoy it, really I do. I just hate it when it doesn't work out or the mess that's involved. I guess I am taking inspiration from my friends Catherine and Sonja here. They both are always making interesting dishes, trying new things. I need to be more pro-active.

I also need to think more about my relationship these days and the path it's going on. I am taking a break from the idea of being 'engaged' right now in order to focus on what I want from the relationship and to check if it's progressing the way I want to.

My lunch is ready. I can smell it in the over. More on the relationship progression later....